Tamil Nadu to buy 3,500 new buses

Chennai, June 24 (IANS) Tamil Nadu’s seven state transport undertakings (STUs) will purchase 3,500 buses this fiscal with funding assistance from Tamil Nadu Transport Development Finance Corp and the central government. Some 1,600 buses will be bought under the central government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission - an initiative to promote planned development of cities, according to a policy note of the state transport department submitted in the assembly by Transport Minister K.N. Nehru.

These buses will replace the existing fleets in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai.

Last fiscal, the STUs bought 3,182 new buses - 2,541 as replacement and 641 for augmentation - with a Rs.352-crore funding assistance by the Tamil Nadu government.

The note also states said the Metropolitan Transport Corp (Chennai) - the transport operator here - will spend Rs.1,300 crore over a seven-year period.

According to the policy note, despite increased passenger load, enhanced fleet utilisation and greater distances covered by their fleets, the seven STUs posted a total loss of Rs.710.14 crore last fiscal, up from Rs.379.57 crore posted the previous year.

The policy note attributed the increasing loss to the non-revision of the fare structure since December 2001.